So, I am in love with my Touch just like most everyone else is. It is a beautiful unit that is great at what it does, but there are a few things that are driving me crazy that I know will be fixed in the new FW update. The question is WHEN will this update arrive?

The biggest issue is the ghosting. If this were fixed soon I would be willing to wait a while for all the other updates/fixes like universal dictionary and highlights, footnoting/link support, multiple bookmarks, etc. I would really like support for adjustable margins and line spacing as well.

There are a myriad of things that have been mentioned and I know will be coming down the pipe eventually, I just really would like the ghosting issue to be fixed. It seems the issue doesn't just crop up because of partial page refreshes, but even when returning to the Home screen from a book or entering a book, etc. there are faint outlines on book covers/text/white space of the page before--even when it looks like there has been a full screen black flash refresh. This is kind of concerning.

I would be willing to wait a while for all the other updates/fixes like universal dictionary and highlights, footnoting/link support,

So can you confirm that the current version of the Touch doesn't support hyperlinks within ePubs? (Here's an ePub with double-linked endnotes if you need to test.) This is a critical issue that the shiny-gadget review sites have completely failed to mention, and is a deal-breaker for me, since I have a lot of ePubs that rely on this.

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I would really like support for adjustable margins and line spacing as well.

Ideally, they could simply add a location for the user to upload a root css file to the device and implement the !important override (which should be implemented already...). This is what is done in the PRS+ custom FW for the Sony devices, and it works very well. This gives the user a great deal of options for customising the rendering without adding the overhead of having to write a cumbersome interface. And those who are too scared of code to write their own could simply download pre-written versions. If they implement the option to choose between different root css files they would allow you to change things on-the-fly as well.

The only difference I've noticed is the tapping to change the page. There were some serious lags before...it would take a couple taps and even a swipe or two before it would change the page. Now, it's much better...except for the end of a chapter! When I tap to go to the next chapter, it's skips forward 3 pages. Every. Single. Time. Sigh. Hopefully this will be addressed in the next update.

So can you confirm that the current version of the Touch doesn't support hyperlinks within ePubs?

The question might more properly be asked, are we sure it doesn't support it for sideloaded ePUBs if you want it for this book. There are a number of features which, at least for now, are supported for kepub (Kobo's proprietary DRM for ePUBs) but not for sideloaded ePUB, with or without DRM.

We are working on getting the 1.9.3 upgrade tweaked and redeployed as we speak. In the mean time we have re-enabled the 1.9.2 upgrade so that anyone who did a factory-reset can upgrade back to 1.9.2.

For those asking, 1.9.3 was to include the capability of being able to control how often the device did a full page refresh while reading, and some performance improvements / bug-fixes. I will get a detailed list.

For anyone who did a factory reset back to 1.9, please connect the device to the Desktop app and sync to get 1.9.2 and you should be good to go.

We are working on getting the 1.9.3 upgrade tweaked and redeployed as we speak. In the mean time we have re-enabled the 1.9.2 upgrade so that anyone who did a factory-reset can upgrade back to 1.9.2.

For those asking, 1.9.3 was to include the capability of being able to control how often the device did a full page refresh while reading, and some performance improvements / bug-fixes. I will get a detailed list.

For anyone who did a factory reset back to 1.9, please connect the device to the Desktop app and sync to get 1.9.2 and you should be good to go.

i did the update twice and each time it freezes about half way then i ejected and unplugged it and it said updating software and it lasts for 3 seconds and mine still said 1.8 (r27873, may 20th 2011)

Is 1.9.4 coming today by any chance? Heading up to the woods for the summer tomorrow morning, internetless, and would really like some flexibility when it comes to full refreshes. Oddly enough the only two times it's ever become a bother were when I was reading outside in warm(ish) weather. No idea if that plays a part in screen behaviour somehow. It became genuinely distracting. Otherwise I've had a hard time noticing ghosting at all.

New firmware 1.9.4 is out and works great. I immediately noticed more responsive page turns, especially swipes on the left side of the screen. Ghosting also seems lessened, and there's now the promised ability to change number of pages before refresh. You just tap in the middle when reading a book, and the option with the multiple lines, then advanced settings, then change to your choice.

Good job by the Kobo team on a quick update, but too bad a lot of the reviews came out before the update. I wonder how long it will take the Nook Touch to get software options for its own ghosting issues. Now I can look forward to the promised new fonts.

Found out a BIG bug in 1.9.4. Whenever you are returning to the Home page the book you were currently reading is removed from the books being shown. This is way more annoying than the refresh problem.

I have the 1.9.4 version of the firmware but have not been able to replicate the results you report. I tried with two different books and when returning to the Home page the book I was reading was shown. I did have the 1.9.3 version before I got 1.9.4 and I wonder if this might account for the differences in outcome.

I can't replicate those results either, Nigol. I went from 1.9.2 to 1.9.4.

Now... on a side note. I am wondering if anyone experiences very very very slight ghosting despite full screen refreshes? For instance, it is most noticable when in a book and returning to the home screen. On the greyer shades of book covers, text from the previous screen can be seen very faintly. Also, when entering the Books list from the home screen, even after a full refresh the old page can be seen very faintly on the white background.

It is so faint that I believe it must be the way that the technology works, although I didn't see this on the older Kobo (or so I don't think). I also don't think I saw this on a Kindle, although maybe I was mistaken.